Before the stage began, respects were paid to Wouter Weylandt, who died in a crash in Stage 3 of last year's Giro. His teammates from Leopard-Trek (now RadioShack-Nissan) and Weylandt's friend Farrar led the tribute. Afterward, Horsens mayor Jan Trøjborg, who worked to bring the Giro to Denmark, was honored. On Sunday, Trojborg died of a heart attack during a bike ride.

Ramunas Navardauskas (Garmin-Barracuda), Reto Hollenstein (Team NetApp), Alfredo Balloni (Farnese Vini), Martijn Keizer (Vacansoleil-DCM), Mads Christensen (Saxo Bank), and Miguel Minguez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) formed the break of the day. The peloton kept the sextet on a short leash, and the escapees' advantage maxed out at 3:00.

With 35 km remaining, the break led the bunch by 0:42. Four km later, Christensen attacked his companions on his home turf and got clear, but the field reeled him in with 24 km left.

With 18 km to go, Lars Bok (Lotto-Belisol) attacked. The Dane's lead topped off at 0:10 before the peloton, which Liquigas-Cannondale led, caught him 7 km later.

Phinney rode over Cavendish and suffered a puncture wound on his right ankle. Cavendish walked his bike across the finish line, while the maglia rosa spent time in an ambulance before appearing at the podium. Ferrari was relegated to last place in his group and fined 200 Swiss francs, while his director sportif, Gianni Savio, apologized but showed no sign that he would withdraw his rider from the race.

In the overall, Phinney leads Geraint Thomas (Sky) by 0:09 and Alex Rasmussen (Garmin-Barracuda) by 0:13. Tuesday will be the first of the 2012 Giro's two rest days, as the race moves to Verona, Italy. On Wednesday, the riders will take on a mostly flat, 32.2-km team time trial in that city. Will BMC fend off the challenges of Garmin-Barracuda and Sky and keep Phinney in the pink? Check in at www.roadcycling.com and find out!

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